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By Kenn Gold
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Peter Hume at the 2007 San Diego Comic Book Convention.
| Flash Gordon Executive Producer, Peter Hume, recently set down with MediaBlvd Magazine and other online press outlets to discuss the 2nd half of the first season of SCI FI’s re-maging of the classic story. SCI FI Vice President of Publicity, Bill Brennan, was also on hand to address and dispel rumors about an early demise of the show.
Hume did make it known that he, and the other show runners, have listened to the criticisms of the fans, and that changes in the show’s second half of the first season will respond to those criticisms. The biggest changes will result in a meaner Ming, and more time on Mongo.
Question> Several weeks ago, one of the Websites that covers the show started speculating and this got picked up by a lot of sites that the show was going to face an early cancellation and wouldn't even go for a full season one. Can you address those rumors?
Peter Hume> Yeah, I read that too. I was shocked to see that. I’ll let SCI FI take that one.
Bill Brennan> Yeah, we can put that to rest. When that popped up early on, when people would call to ask for verification, we of course corrected them. Don't know where it came from but it was not true.
Peter> That makes me feel better.
Question> I think that makes a lot of people feel better. Do you have an idea or can you tell us how many viewers does the show have now that things have settled down? I haven't seen any numbers I think since the pilot or maybe since the first show after the pilot.
Peter> The pilot was really strong. Then it went down a little bit. Then it went up for like four weeks in a row; really big gains. And then we had baseball actually so we dipped again. So we're building definitely.
Question> Great. one thing that seems really smart and maybe this is Bill's call, but putting the razor flashbacks in the middle of Flash Gordon…do you know has there been an increase in viewership because of that?
Bill Brennan> Yeah, you know, I'd have to go and check that for you because unfortunately Battlestar's not a show that I'm working on specifically. But I can check it out and let you know.
Peter> Yeah, that has helped and I think it's helped and it's brought new viewers and as I say that the ratings just have been consistent and steady. We took a hit with baseball and then when the new season like when Moonlight came out that first night, we took a little dip and we're still up.
So, I think people are finding the show and figuring it out and going like “oh, this is pretty good”. And, you know, we wouldn't be doing this unless we all believed in the show and where it was going.
Question> Jonathan Walker who I think is one of the best actors in your ensemble cast is also a screenwriter. Are you going to give him a crack perhaps at one of your scripts?
Peter> Yeah, he's really good. We talked about that. We send out scripts and then we get stuff back from actors all the time. He sends usually back a page of really intelligent thoughts that we always use.
And he's really smart and we talked about definitely probably next year giving him a script. I'd really like to do that because he's just a really smart guy and he really gets the show. And we're just really lucky to work with him. I'm glad you like him because he's one of my favorites too. He gets big. We're teasing that out really slowly, there's some big reveals with him and I think even now you're sort of probably getting the hint that he's got other stuff going on which will be revealed. And I think he's just - he's a very layered and complex actor and his character is also layered and complex. And as the season goes out, we'll be learning a lot more about him and where his allegiance is lying. They'll be some very big twists involving Rankol.
Question> With all of the episodes that are behind us and the ones that are coming up, what is your favorite aspect of the show you've got going or maybe something that we haven't seen yet that's coming up?
Peter> Well I like actually like what you'll see coming up is you'll learn a lot more about the Planet Mongo and how it got to be the way it is and how Ming is. I like this new Ming and that he's a really horrible guy but he's - in a weird way he's doing things that have to be done to save the planet. And he really gets better and better and his character really gets more complex. And he's a guy that you just think “God, he's just the most horrible person in the world”. And then at the end you'll go “ooh, but maybe he had to do it that way”.
He's just sort of the Saddam Hussein kind of tyrant but ruling a planet that may need a tyrant to be in charge. And I think the relationship with him and his daughter and the development of Aura, that's a weird twisted relationship. I like where that's going. But just as we kind of break down and get more - a little bit more off earth and more onto Mongo and start discovering the layers and the intricacies and the politics of that planet, It's just been easier for us as writers as you know, because this show was developed quite quickly and we've been building it and discovering it and it's getting more intricate and more complex. I think because as writers we've been able to go deeper and build this world and I think you'll see in the second half of the season a really compelling and complex and sort of fascinating world. We're getting into The Sorrow and what happened there and it gets really cool.
Question> Are you going to be delving more, into the characters a little bit more as far as their personal depths or are you going to be focusing more on the actual set and things?
Peter> I think we want to do both of those things. We've gotten a little bit more money freed up to do some more facts. With our budget it's been a bit of a challenge to do that, but we've got some more and they're going to get a lot better.
But also in terms of the characters, I think they're growing and getting more complex as we as writers learn about them as they learn about what their characters are.
And as you build those relationships, there's a lot more twisty turny stuff. There's a lot more depth that you'll see coming out. And there's a lot more agendas and secrets and I think you'll see a lot of growth and depth emerging as the series goes on.
Question> But as far as the romantic kind of tensions that are going on between Flash and Dale and then also Ming's daughter is as well is sometimes kind of weird...
Peter> They're so weird like she's so my favorite. I just think she's just great. And there's a weird dynamic with her and Flash. Then there's stuff with Barin.
There's a lot of complex triangles going on and Aura will really come into her own and sort of go from being a spoiled little girl and at the end of the season will really have to grow up and make some really hard decisions. And there'll be some big huge twist with her at the end.
Question> I have a question for you regarding the genre. In your opinion, why do you feel there's been such a resurgent in these classic sci-fi shows over the last few years like Flash Gordon, Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica even? Do you have any concern that these nostalgia styles sci-fi shows might kill the genre or will add to it? What's your opinion on that?
Peter> I think there's two reasons. I think the first just practical reason is just they find it easier to market a brand that exists instead of launching new ones. But that's just the hard business reason.
But I think the shows like this actually, certainly with Flash Gordon, it gives you a chance to do these really mythic big stories. And I think that's really, really good for the genre. I mean, we've taken stuff that was done by Alex Raymond, we really went back to the comics and used those core characters and we've reinvented a bit and changed that planet.
But science fiction allows you to comment on stuff that's going on in the world today in big grand and mythic ways. And I think that there'll always be a place for it because you can tell stories that can't be told anywhere else and they can really resonate with us in ways that are really profound that you just couldn't do on a hospital show.
So I think it's really good for the genre and I'm glad that it's alive and I'm glad there's been a real resurgence. If we keep doing these shows well, good shows will be good shows and they'll survive.
Question> What makes Flash, or Flash's character, such a great hero to you and Ming's character such a great bad guy?
Peter> I like Flash in that there's been a lot of sort of new heroes on TV that are kind of anti-heroes, that are bad guys. They have a dark side and are cool and they kind of lead to shows these days that have been very popular in TV. And we really wanted to do an old fashioned hero.
Like Flash is basically what he was in the comics. He's an every man who's drawn into this extraordinary situation and has to do those - a big challenge and does the right thing. And it's just like an old school hero that we didn't want to do anything that was too dark.
We wanted to basically say here's a great American hero and do that. And I think Eric Johnson perfectly embodies that. He's actually so much like the character.
He just became a dad last week and he's the greatest guy ever and such a committed and extraordinary actor. He really is so close to this character Flash Gordon. I mean a lot of what the show is is just because he's so Flash. He was born to play this part and that's been terrific.
So the notion of this character, a lot of it's come from him too and he's brought it in his direction. It's been really lucky casting because I just think he's fantastic. He's using the right tone. He gets his humor. And you can't really act that. He is that guy. He is really this amazing good human being. And I think that they've just given such integrity to this character.
As for Ming, I like the way John's doing that too. It's not as arch evil as some of the efforts of that character and it's more complex. He's always the smartest guy in the room and he's a really intelligent layered nuance actor and I think he's creating something new and complex, but also really intriguing.
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Peter Hume, Gina Holden and Eric Johnson at the 2007 San Diego Comic Book Convention.
| You'll see his character kind of start going a little nuts in the series as the season goes on. And you'll see some amazing bits of acting from John because he just gets very extraordinary and his relationship with Aura gets very twisty and messed up.
And it took a few episodes but we got there and I think that - and I was just really happy to see that reflected. And I think as you see in the - the second half of the season is a very different experience. In the first half all the actors we all figured out and it just takes time to arrive at what your show's going to be and I think we did.
But as I say, this was, you know, we had an air date and we were - I'm not lying, we were rushing to get it up there and I think that we suffered a little bit in the first episodes.
But I'm really, really proud of the work we're doing and, you know, everything forward from here is just is extraordinary and getting deeper. The people at Arch, I just sent an email this morning about the cut we just sent and they said this is the best episode ever. This is a great show. We're just so excited about it. But, so, and it is, it's getting deeper and more complex and…
Question> What would you say if you had the podium and you were able to talk to everybody, what would be the thing that you'd say that would bring everybody back, that would show that this is now the show that you guys intended to put out?
Peter> I think we're doing Flash Gordon now. We're doing Flash and his buddies on Mongo in this complex sci-fi world and we're developing that planet. And Ming is getting… that was another big complaint. Ming was too nice and I honestly didn't want to do an arch mustache twisting bad guy.
I wanted to do a really clever, smart modern guy who believes that what he's doing is right. I think a bad guy who's bad for the sake of being bad is not that complex or challenging and not - and I wanted a guy that thinks he's doing the right thing for his people and is kind of psychopathic like more of a Saddam Hussein. He probably thought he was a good guy and was holding that country together.
So the two big complaints were Ming isn't strong enough or mean enough and that it's not enough Mongo. We're all Mongo all the time now. And I think as you see the development of Ming and we get to know more about that planet and why that planet's the way it is and how he operates and how he's had to operate, I think this show just gets more complex and actually a little bit darker and it's still fun and rompy but there's a gravitas that comes into the second part of the season that wasn't there. Because we didn't know what that was. I mean we were all discovering the show, so I'm really, really proud of where it's going. And I think if people stick with it, they'll be really thrilled that they did because it's not like anything else. It's still a fun show to watch. But it's complex and dark and it does comment a little bit on what's going on today and deals with these big mythic themes and that's my rant.
Question> Most of the people on this call visited the set this summer, and it was obvious that there was a much different budget. How has that affected things?
Peter> Well, that's the other thing. You can't compare us to Battlestar Galactica. It's not fair. We have like a fifth of the budget I think and so the fact - and that doesn't really work into - that's to say, oh we have less money. It's not fair because you're going to judge a show on the show.
And so you could compare us to Chuck, but what we're doing is so much less than they have and I think that - I'm not asking for that as an excuse. I'm just saying that there's a reality of what we have to operate in and there's only so much visual effects we can do.
And look, I'd love to have rocket ships too. That was one of the big things. Rocket ships are expensive and well actually in this I think rocket ships would have been a bad idea because it's not reasonable in this century to do rocket ships, it's very 1930s.
There was some of that, you know, that it wasn't spacey enough, but I always really wanted to break out that planet because I always though Flash Gordon is really about this guy on this extraordinary planet.
And as we do that yeah, we have a low budget and I think we're doing a pretty great show for that. And the characters are terrific and just wait until you meet the tribes and the new crazy characters that you'll see in the second half of the season. And I think people will be really impressed.
Question> how do you get around those budget issues? How do you make up for it?
Peter> Well I think really by being really clever and being smart in what you can do and telling the right kind of stories. In a weird way it's good because it forces you to tell really good stories. You can't just throw it all to vis effects and say oh make a cool battle scene which would be awesome but it forces you to be really clever in the writing and make something that's sort of character based and interesting.
So we don't really see that as a challenge. We do tend to kind of write what we want and the production team is so amazing, they get this and they're just getting an extraordinary look like great tribes and cantons and whole worlds that we go to every week.
And they're doing it - the production designers I think getting better and better. It's just fantastic. And we're creating this really complex world that you just don't see in any other shows. It's, I don't know, every week we write stuff and we get stuff back from production and we're like damn, this looks amazing. And they're just doing extraordinary work for us.
Question> Is there any talk about how the pending writer's strike might affect the future?
Peter> That's all we talk about. I mean, I think that's all everyone talks about right now. We're a WGC show but we all work with WGA writers, but then there's rumors about the guild letting smaller companies work. I don't know. I mean I think there'll be a strike honestly, but I think we may be able to keep working. But I hope we can. It would be great. But I guess nobody really knows.
Question> I guess we got to see Vultan and Barin kind of interpreted in your universe. And we did get the Lion Men with Pride, the second episode after or the first episode after the pilot. But I was wondering are you going to go back to the Lion Man and Prince Thun?
Peter> We want to do the Lion Men and we are thinking we were going to do it in 19 and then we changed it and now it's going to be Frigians because we can do snow.
We really want to but we probably won't. We know what we're doing for the rest of the season so we probably won't go back this season. But they'll come out next season.
Peter> And then we do have Vultan back and Vultan does a just a fantastic show. He just steals the show. He comes back in a really terrific episode in 13.
Question> And how about Barin, is Steve Bacic going to be back?
Peter> Yeah, he comes back. He does a couple more episodes. He's fantastic. He got another job on a Canadian show called Air Sea. So we love him so much we want to have him there all the time. We lost him for a few and we'll see what happens with that show. It ends in February. And if he's available, we'll have him back as much as we can. He just lights up the screen. He's fantastic. And I think he nails that character too. I think he does such a great job.
In episode Stand and Deliver, which is I think 16, he is amazing. It's just a great performance and there's some stuff going on with him and Baylin and it's a great episode. That's the one that Lynn Hall said this is your best episode yet”, and I think it might be. And he's a big part of that.
Question> Now going back to one of your answers a couple back. I think when the pilot aired that you were somewhere around 10 or 11 in the episodes filming. I was wondering did you actually go back just based on some of the criticisms or the concerns that the fans had and make any changes to what's airing?
Peter> We listen to what you guys say, yes. I mean, you can't not. Like, you know, I'm not superhuman. I think it wouldn't be responsible really to not do that. I think that we're still doing the show we want to do, but yeah, I think we're informed by stuff we read and about what people like.
I mean you've got market research right there. And it's not that it totally directs us but sure we listen and we respond to what people say. And I think the show is going to get, largely better because a lot of the feedback we've gotten from people like all of you guys.
Question> It seems like I've noticed maybe an homage to the Sam Jones movie lately especially with the scorpion scene with Ming and with the fight with Barin and Flash in last week's episode. Is that intentional?
Peter> I would say actually that's more of a definite homage to the 80s movie coming up in stuff that you haven't seen. But that stuff like the scorpions, that’s real classic Flash from the comic books.
You know, every episode there would be some stadium battle. And we really want to get back to that spirit of Flash. But that's really Alex Raymond, which was really what the movie was. I mean that was a very faithful rendition of the Alex Raymond comic books and I think we've been a little less broad than that but still tried stay true to the spirit of what, you know, was created in 1932 I think.
Question> Are we going to get to see a resolution to the plot with Flash's father this season?
Peter> Yes. It will resolve itself.
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